"a lot."

there is playful mischief in the tone that can easily be misheard for bluntness.

"don't worry about it. i'm sure the higher ups are fine with me spending my work hours here."

this was a special event where gym leaders are able to give out their badges to challengers who manage to impress them after all. it was easy to find a reasoning why his time here benefits the league, thus is eligible for pay.

with the riolu copying his move, the poochyena tries to show it that it's better at playing rough. the scuffle continues as the two clash in an battle of attrition.

he likes it?

"y-y-you're supposed to act a bit f-flustered at least!" he'd whine amid his stammers.

the feeling is shared with his poochyena through the suit, but since the pokemon doesn't understand it, it doesn't seem to hinder its thoughts in battle. it had to attempt dodging the move, after all.

the strike was quick that both trainer and pokemon aren't sure if the taunt was necessary. it grazes it as it pushes itself sideways before lunging with a dragon hammer right to its ribs.

"how about kyle faber?"

the poochyena realizes that taunt has no effect on this absol. the pokemon changes its approach.

it doesn't move still. instead, it makes a wish for the next turn.

yellow eyes stare at the absol as it dances for a show, careful for its next move as the sygna suit syncs both trainer and pokemon with the same feeling.

avatars usually forego the use of sygna suits since it inhibits their connection with their patron, but eva was among the people who had used it multiple times to be familiar with its strengths.

he activates trainer move: physical shield as an additional precaution to the machamp's onslaught amid its mega evolution's time limit ending.

"i saved my trump card just for this moment," he playfully taunts in the midst of battle.

the poochyena wasn't built for long drawn out fights after all, especially against the machamp that a veteran of kanto's battles has personally trained. no need to hold back when he's going to be in his back foot if the fight goes longer.

the poochyena attempts to swerve the attack, launching a dragon hammer with a headbutt to the machamp's own head.

kyle smiles awkwardly at the situation. it's usually when the tables have turned that it becomes easier for the underdog to continue winning.

sometimes, it's psychological from the other side's point of view. sometimes, it's panic that settles in from the side that had the upper hand once their advantage gets closer.

"just one clean hit, kilo," he tells his poochyena. "they finally warmed up. we can still win from the point system, i think."

despite being shaken from the hit from the shaymin, the poochyena resolves itself for a mad dash for the another swipe.

the tournament had these vital gears provided to them by the sponsor that automatically rewards points depending on their pokemon's vitals. they may lose a drawn out fight, but the system gives out points whether or not pokemon on the field can still fight.

shadow sneak continues to be used by the poochyena to reach for that goal, forgoing grace of agility for an attempt to brute force a strike on the shaymin.

"start a band without him," he answers bluntly.

the poochyena freezes at the sight of the arbok. its limbs tense up as they attempt to move under the paralysis, but his body fails him on the task.

forced to remain in place, the poochyena wishes for things to happen that breaks him out of the trance that the glare from the poison-type stuck him in.

"do you know any instruments?" he asks her. "i can teach you if you don't."

bonus points if she plays something other than the instrument that navy prefers. as far as he knows, Navy is pretty much wedded to the idea of guitars rather than other positions in a band.

the melmetal starts going back for another strike with its fists. the poochyena stands its ground, preparing for the attack to go closer before matching it.

resilience from the sygna suit is given to the poochyena as the attack closes in. it lowers its head as it prepares to meet the attack head on, and once the right moment comes, it leaps on the attack.

dragon hammer meets the swing to deflect the attack, with the delayed attack from future sight exploding on its face to shift its attention from one source of damage to another.

the final hits are registered by the vital gear and the result flashes on the augmented reality. two vitals being rewarded ends the adrenaline coursing through the fight.

if the sygna suit's advantages really comes from the combination of the bond of trainer and pokemon, as well as the rise of emotions in a battle, then the victory was to be attributed to the link provided by the suit.

while he does love an underdog story, contrary to appearances, his poochyena wasn't one thanks to the sygna suit.

"i've always faced charizards in a fight, but, i don't know, it just never gets old." two of the closest people in his life did use one as their favored pokemon.

"hey, hey, are you going for the gym circuit?" realizing that it's going to lead to too much discussion with a person he just met, he cuts himself off. either way, hope we see each other soon."

he holds a hand out.

kyle knows that a pikachu using thunderbolt was dangerous since it's an electric-type pokemon using an electric-type move. that's what STAB is and he knows the meaning of it.

this means that aaron faust is the master of pokemon battles since he's using it. maybe he can teach those that don't once he fights them for the vct secret prize.

"i'm taking notes."

and he does have a lot of them, just like this maneuver he learned from the reports from littleroot where league clashed against rocket that one time.

the poochyena dips into the shadows with shadow sneak to move closer to the pikachu with gritted teeth. he heard some avatar got miffed because of it.

the entire clash brings about a flurry of fur and feathers to linger around in the air. kyle is already used to the smell of dogs, but the mix of bird smell brings a new sensation to his nose.

barks sound as the flying-type recovers in the air. unable to reach it, the poochyena instead prepares for it to strike back to match it instead of launching its attack first.

the poochyena lowers its head and meets the other dragon hammer with its own dragon hammer. it waits for the pidove to descend before leaping up to swing its skull upwards to clash with it.

matias' intervention gets him out of harm's way, too confident of the elite four's vigilance to make an effort for himself.

"thanks!" he had been concentrating on his solgaleo being uninterrupted during the initial channel.

a raikou and a suicune briefly appear as the attacks of the hoopa went through. a reflect from the raikou, and a barrier of ice from the suicune's sheer cold attempt to deflect attacks, but there's only so much the beasts can take before they dissipate back to ash.

now on the back of MATIAS SILPH' charizard, kyle looks down to where his solgaleo was, managing to dodge the attacks with the help of kyle's abilities. it continues to walk up through the air, leaving behind the chaos from below.

"if this gambit doesn't work, then-" hands cling on to matias' shirt as he leans over to yell at his pokemon, risking their balance atop a ride pokemon. "keep trying!"

• kyle rides matias' charizard
• sacred ash suicune/raikou protect solgaleo from attacks
• solgaleo escapes the chaos by walking in the air
• solgaleo continues to channel cosmic power to separate kyurem with reshiram

the wish prevails and the poochyena powers through the scyther's strike with its move.

when the dust settles, that single attack from the scyther manages to shake the pokemon to its core. legs barely manage to carry it upright, but it manages to keep itself on its toes.

the vital gear registers the win through points, whether or not the fight was actually won. kyle picks up his poochyena as soon as vitals are rewarded by the system.

"that single attack almost got my poochy," he'd comment as he picks up his pokemon, disabling its fight mode. "i think we got bailed out by the rules."

kyle doesn't understand most of it but the basics, but he's taking the win.

"that was fun. shame you have to cut your experience short with your responsibilities." kyle, too, has some of them unfinished back at his office at ever grande, but he has enough excuses to burn as long as the event was running.

he could say they have the advantage with the unparalleled help of his sygna suit, but bringing it up at that moment wouldn't really help with the self-improvement she was trying to achieve.

"no problem," he tells her instead. "i enjoyed it too. i'll let you know if he stops if we meet again."

he picks up his poochyena, who was close to collapsing for forcing himself to keep up. perhaps it, too, was too hyped up from the fight due to the influence of his trainer through the sygna suit.

kyle waves ana a good bye before heading off to heal his pokemon.